Woven fabrics are produced on various types of weaving machines, commonly referred to as shedding devices. Examples of shedding devices include, for instance, a cam weaving device and a Dobby weaving device, which generally produce fabrics having a single and uniform weave. More complicated weaving systems capable of producing fabrics containing multiple weaves are generally referred to as jacquard weaving systems.
In the past, attempts have been made to incorporate printed patterns into woven fabrics. In particular, attempts have been made to produce a fabric containing a printed design in combination with a woven design. Having the capability of combining a printed design with a woven design offers the ability to produce fabrics containing many different patterns and colors that have a unique and distinctive appearance.
For instance, one technique used in the past was to print a pattern onto a set of warp yarns prior to weaving the yarns into a fabric. If woven in an appropriate manner, the pattern applied to the warp yarns becomes visible in the resulting fabric. Other applications which discuss warp yarn printing include U.S. Pat. No. 5,212,845 to Corbiere and the present inventors' prior applications having U.S. Ser. Nos. 09/042,123 and 09/226,342, which are all incorporated herein by reference in their entireties.
Generally, in the past, the preferred methods for applying a printed pattern onto the warp yarns in a warp yarn printing process included screen printing and heat transfer printing. In each of these printing methods, typically the printing device includes a substrate, such as a roll of transfer paper or an engraved roll, that has a design imprinted onto the substrate. The substrate is used to apply the design to a moving web of warp yarns.
Unfortunately, however, each of the above printing techniques has limitations. For instance, since the design is preprinted onto the substrate that is applied to the warp yarns, it is generally not easy to make adjustments in the printed design during processing. Also, these printing devices typically do not provide a great amount of flexibility in switching from one design to another. For instance, in order to switch designs during processing, the preprinted or engraved substrate typically needs to be removed from the printing device and replaced. Further, since the substrates are prefabricated, a certain amount of time is required from when a new design is created until that design can be applied to a set of warp yarns and incorporated into production.
In view of the above deficiencies and drawbacks, a need currently exists for an improved system and process for printing a design onto a set of warp yarns that are to be woven into a fabric. In particular, a need exists for a process and system for printing a design onto a set of warp yarns that offers greater flexibility and more controls than printing techniques used in the past.